Education is a major determinant of socioeconomic success. Yet when properly counted the U.S. is producing proportionately more high school dropouts than it did thirty years ago. Increases in college attendance and completion have been uneven across family income, race and ethnic groups. The educational gap between the haves and the have not has widened. This project studies the sources of non-cognitive ability over the life cycle with an eye towards understanding which interventions at what ages are likely to be effective. It also examines the life cycle socioeconomic consequences of education and cognitive and non-cognitive abilities. New methods for studying life cycle processes are developed and applied. [unreadable] [unreadable]